Rave Notice

Originally Aired: October 21, 1954 Suspense #568, "Rave Notice," presents a chilling psychological portrait of Sam, a struggling actor whose ego proves as dangerous as any weapon. When director Norman strips Sam of his cherished role in a new play, declaring him "not right for it" and even suggesting he's "no actor," Sam's wounded pride explodes into murderous rage. Despite Norman's dismissive cruelty, Sam's response is anything but theatrical—he calmly purchases a shotgun and waits outside the stage door on 45th Street, methodically planning his revenge. After shooting Norman in cold blood, Sam faces the electric chair for premeditated murder. His lawyer sees no defense until mentioning insanity as a possibility. Suddenly, Sam seizes upon a darkly ironic solution: he'll give the performance of his lifetime by convincing psychiatrists he's been insane all along. Drawing on his training in the Stanislavski method, Sam begins mining his deepest memories for moments of genuine madness, dredging up a childhood incident involving a cat and searching for the emotional truth that will make his greatest role—that of a homicidal maniac—utterly believable and save him from execution.